beet

[beet] /bit/

noun

any of various biennial plants belonging to the genus Beta, of the amaranth family, especially B. vulgaris, having a fleshy red or white root.

Compare sugar beet.

the edible root of such a plant.

the leaves of such a plant, served as a salad or cooked vegetable.

Origin

before 1000; Middle English bete, Old English bēte < Latin bēta

Related forms

beetlike, adjective

Can be confused

beat, beet (see synonym study at beat)

Examples from the web for beet

Place the beet in a medium pot, cover with water and bring to a boil.
Chop beets and eat alone or mix into a salad, maybe with cooked beet greens and oranges.
We've used the beet to its fullest: sweet golden slices of the root, paired with dark, earthy leaves.
Place beet juice in a saucepan over medium-low heat.
Grilled beer-cooked sausages, caraway sauerkraut, and beet salad.
To eat a beet raw, you have to peel it and shred it.
But there wasn't enough food, so one day she stopped on her way home and stole a beet root from a field.
Gently fold caviar into beet mixture, and adjust salt and pepper as needed.
Strain beet water through a colander lined with cheesecloth.
Also add several pieces of fresh, cleaned horseradish, and a whole cleaned and peeled red beet.

British Dictionary definitions for beet

beet

/biːt/

noun

any chenopodiaceous plant of the genus Beta, esp the Eurasian species B. vulgaris, widely cultivated in such varieties as the sugar beet, mangelwurzel, beetroot, and spinach beet See also chard

the leaves of any of several varieties of this plant, which are cooked and eaten as a vegetable

red beet, the US name for beetroot

Word Origin

Old English bēte, from Latin bēta

Word Origin and History for beet

Old English bete "beet, beetroot," from Latin beta, said to be of Celtic origin. Common in Old English, then lost till c.1400. Still usually spoken of in plural in U.S. A general West Germanic borrowing, cf. Old Frisian bete, Middle Dutch bete, Old High German bieza, German Beete.